The investigator becomes the target, the airport that became a temple of crime and how NOT to sample a cocaine stash.

Law enforcement veterans Philip Matthews and Graham Honey trace their unlikely beginnings in 1970s Britain, as UK Customs & Excise investigators quietly transformed from suitcase checks into a global drug-fighting force. From ripping drug parcels, to dismantling corruption at major travel hubs, they reveal how smuggling really worked, and how deeply insider crime penetrated docks and airports.

Our insiders also expose the hidden realities behind the myths: why intelligence matters more than arrests, how informants can be both vital and dangerous, and what it’s like to take drugs to the criminal rather than chase them.

This is the true story of how the narcotics trade went global and how a secret war, fought for more than 50 years, still shapes our world - told by the people who were actually there.

These are the Narco Warriors.

Join the fight: NarcoWarriors.com

New episodes every Monday.

Host: Lindsay Charlton
Insiders: Phil Matthews & Graham Honey

Missile strikes. Narco terrorism. A president taken in the night.

In the first episode of Narco Warriors, Lindsay Charlton sets the scene for a global conflict that has entered a dangerous new phase.

As the United States declares drug traffickers “narco terrorists” and launches missile strikes on suspected smuggling boats in the Caribbean, our insiders ask a fundamental question:

Has the war on drugs crossed a line?

From Caracas, former UK Drug Liaison Officer Graham Dick gives an exclusive first-hand account of life in Venezuela following the removal of President Maduro, describing missile strikes in the capital, fear on the streets, and the immediate impact on drug trafficking routes.

In the studio, veteran investigators Philip Matthews and Graham Honey draw on decades of operations across Latin America and the Caribbean to explain Venezuela’s true role in the cocaine trade, how smuggling routes really work, and why killing traffickers at sea may damage intelligence gathering rather than stop the trade.

Then former FBI agent James Gagliano offers the U.S. law-enforcement perspective, weighing deterrence against due process, while author and journalist Peter Walsh examines the legality and morality of targeted killings in the modern drug war.

These are the Narco Warriors.

Join the fight: NarcoWarriors.com
New episodes every Monday.

This is the true story of how the narcotics trade went global and how a secret war, fought for more than 50 years, still shapes our world - told by the international investigators who lived it.

Episodes drop Mondays 6am GMT